Plated through holes (PTHs) possessing via stubs can significantly distort high speed digital signals that pass through such PTHs. This distortion may be severe and may increase as the data rate increases. A conventional technique known as backdrilling can be used to remove via stubs. Backdrilling uses controlled depth drilling techniques to remove the undesired conductive plating in the via stub region. Typically, the via stub region is removed using a drill bit slightly larger in diameter than the drill bit that was used to create the original via hole. Decreasing via stub length by backdrilling may significantly reduce a particularly problematic form of signal distortion known as deterministic jitter. Because bit error rate (BER) is strongly dependent on deterministic jitter, any reduction in jitter by backdrilling significantly reduces the overall BER of an interconnection (by orders of magnitude, in some cases). Other advantages associated with backdrilling include: less signal attenuation due to improved impedance matching; increased channel bandwidth; reduced electromagnetic interface/conduction (EMI/EMC) radiation from the end of the via stub; reduced excitation of resonance modes; and reduced via-to-via crosstalk. Unfortunately, backdrilling is a costly, time-consuming process. Accordingly, a need exists for via stub elimination in printed wiring boards (PWBs) and other substrates, such as interconnect substrates.